2008... complete F&*%@#G S@$T, 2009... F&*%@#G Awsome, 2010... should be something truely special
SvsR 09 is a complete 180 on the previous trash that attempted for the wii. In this version the movements has been tightened and the overall game has much more longevity and fun experiences to be had.
You can start this with a little exhibition match to get the feel and the game gives you a general tutorial of how to get around a ring and inflict harm on your opponent. There are a number of match types to chose from ranging from old fashioned 1 on 1 fair play wrestling to 6 men money in the bank with anything goes and everything in between. Basically any type of mach that in the WWE at the moment is a playable match in this game.
Once you get the lay of the land you can go to create-a-wrestler (or CAW) (which if I remember correctly was omitted from the previous 2008 version) CAW in this game has everything you would come to expect as standard. You have pretty much complete control over every thickness, placement, height, colour, shape... of every part of the body head and face. You have 100's of clothing options to chose from when you think of adding shirts, tights, belts, shorts etc. With enough time and effort you could possibly construct any person you liked, which goes a long way to describing the character appearance in the game. Once you get your wrestler looking schmick you can go through a ton of moves to assign and then fiddle with an entrance.
Once you return to the main menu you will find many crevices you can go for editing. You can change titles as you see fit, move wrestlers between brands, turn them dirty or clean and partner members up in tag or alliance teams. The career mode allows you to go through a traditional style career were your CAW begins his journey to battle his way to the top whilst gaining experience and improving stats. The other journey in the game is the "Road to Wrestlemania" where you choose from a selection of wrestlers and go on a path with good storylines and real wrestler voice over's. Through a combination of these 2 game modes there are a heap of unlockable's but you can find cheats on this site that do the hard work for you.
Graphically it is better than the first one. At times the wrestlers look as close to real as anything you would see on the wii. The moves are put together in a much cleaner view and the entrances are interactive and good to watch
Gameplay. Simply put 1000 times better then the first one. You can actually control your wrestler around the ring and interact with people and objects with minimal difficulty. There are still some issues with the way some actions are carried out but overall the fun you have isn't held back by controller issues. Having said that there still seems like a great deal of room for improvement with some aspects of play. Running around isn't an easy thing since you can't run unless your attacking or outside the ring with your opponent a fair bit away from you. You can't stand on the apron, you just move in and out of the ring. there seems like space on the controller set up to get some more variety in your moves list when it comes to corner, and special scenario type moves (I don't know what I mean but I know it seems like in a situation I want to do something but I can't). If you think back to wrestlemania 2000 if you ever owned that on the N64 (great game) you would know how much total control you felt over your wrestler in this it doesn't feel like you have total control of what is going on.
Sound is awesome. Good real commentary with all the crew especially good ol JR and Jerry 'the king" Lawler. Good real wrestlers speaking in the story modes. The music is good with the entrances and the sound FX are also great.
There is much more that could be mentioned about this game like huge weapon lists, slow motion finishers being cool, post match ability to be celebrate or beat down on your fallen opponent but this is long enough already
Bottom line: if you like wrestling this game will satisfy your needs if all you have is a wii. If the same amount of improvement is continued SvsR 2010 should be an instant classic in the wrestling genre and might be worth the wait to buy if you can hold out till its probable release